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Summary of the impact

Employee relations in Britain have undergone fundamental change in the
last three decades. Research by Lewis, Upchurch, Croucher and other
colleagues has tracked these changes identifying the decline of collective
bargaining and the rise of alternative forms of employee voice. The impact
of this programme of research has been evident in influencing the
evolution of wider public debate on issues of employee voice and shaping
the development of policy frameworks and specific policy initiatives in
the UK and abroad, particularly concerning whistleblowing. Impact has been
apparent through influencing the development of employment culture and the
respective practices of employers, unions, and human resources/industrial
relations practitioners.

Underpinning research

Since the 1990s, research in the Middlesex University Business School has
examined the fundamental changes in employee relations in the UK and other
advanced industrial economies. This has charted the significant decline in
the level of collective bargaining and the consequent `representation gap'
for employee voice (Lewis, 1995; Upchurch et al, 2008; Croucher et al,
2012). Research findings have demonstrated the inter-relationship between
the widespread decline in collective voice mechanisms across many national
employment systems and the development of alternative forms of employee
voice and means of expressing dissent.

A particular focus of this research has been on employee whistleblowing,
which emerged out of the work of Lewis and James in the early 1990s on
employee participation in health and safety and the rights of workplace
representatives. The seminal article by Lewis on job security for UK
whistleblowers published in Modern Law Review (1995), led to
Public Concern at Work commissioning empirical research, led by Lewis, to
establish the state of play of whistleblowing procedures in English and
Welsh local authorities. Subsequent empirical research funded in part by
the Employers Organisation for Local Government and the Nuffield
Foundation examined public sector whistleblowing procedures covering more
than 2.75 million people in schools, universities, local authorities and
the health service. Since 2002, publications in a range of peer-reviewed
employment law and employee relations journals (e.g. Lewis 2006) have
examined the impact of whistleblowing procedures. In response to a
changing whistleblowing climate in the private sector, two surveys of FTSE
top 250 companies were funded, by the British Academy and Sai Global
respectively in 2007 and 2010. These studies led (jointly with
Vandekerckhove) to a critical review of international official guidelines
on the contents of whistleblowing procedures in 2011. Findings have
informed the international debate on what principles should be recommended
to employers in devising appropriate whistleblowing arrangements.

A second major stream of this research has focused upon the development
of new forms of employee representation and workplace practices by
Upchurch and colleagues (Danford et al. 2003; Upchurch et al 2008). An
extensive cross-sectoral quantitative and qualitative survey demonstrated
how corporate instability in the private sector, triggered by take-overs
and mergers, had altered significantly the locus of decision-making power
in organisations with regard to workplace practices. Further analysis
examined alternative voice mechanisms in both unionised and non-unionised
environments. While management were often described as good in providing
information, they were also described as poor in allowing employees to
influence or change decision-making. This was especially the case in `high
performance workplaces' such as those in the aerospace industry, and in
non-union partnership workplaces, where individual performance regimes
overrode mechanisms of effective employee voice. Further work by Upchurch
investigated sustainable work practices at British Airways (Upchurch,
2010). This research, based on interviews conducted with BA cabin crew
staff, found that BA's attempts to shift from a business strategy based on
quality service to international clients, to one of low cost operator was
associated with attacks on pay and conditions, changes to work
organisation and a strict regime of employee control (Upchurch, 2010).

These streams of research have shown that alternative mechanisms for
employee voice do provide a certain level of protection for individuals
raising concerns in workplaces within the European context. However
individual voice mechanisms, such as those which are used by
whistleblowers, have not grown to compensate for the decline in collective
practices but rather have declined with them (Croucher et al, 2012).
Further ESRC funding has allowed Upchurch, Croucher, Cotton and Castellino
to widen the scope of inquiry to examine employee voice `beyond labour
regulation', through active engagement with policy makers both in the UK
and abroad.

All journal articles have been published in highly regarded,
peer-reviewed journals. Book and report publications were peer-reviewed
and published in high quality series. Many of the outputs are based on
competitively funded research projects, awarded after rigorous peer
review.

Details of the impact

The impacts of this programme of research have been evident in
influencing the evolution of wider public debate on issues of employee
voice, and shaping the development of policy frameworks and particular
policy initiatives in the UK and abroad, as well as employment practices.
Beneficiaries have included policy makers, human resource practitioners,
businesses, unions and ultimately employees.

The impact of scholarly research on whistleblowing has been evident in
specific lines of policy thinking, as well as the wider policy climate,
among politicians, academic and practising lawyers, employers, trade
unions and voluntary organisations (1). These impacts have been
incremental and cumulative. The 1995 Modern Law Review article,
standing alone at the time as an academic study on the subject, influenced
the decision to make protection for whistleblowers a UK employment right.
This approach has been subsequently adopted in many countries, and the EU,
through recognition of a need for whistleblowing procedures as an
anti-corruption tool.

Findings of this empirical research have contributed to wider public
debate over the last decade that effective whistleblowing
arrangements are vital both to private and public interests, following
health and safety disasters and the exposure of financial scandals.
Subsequent to the presentation of written and oral evidence by Lewis and
Homewood to the Committee on Standards in Public Life in 1997, research
findings have influenced the development of the UK policy environment,
contributing to a process of reform and innovation which resulted in the
production of a Publicly Available Specification Code of Practice on
Whistleblowing in 2008 (BSI). In developing policy frameworks further,
Lewis has acted as a part-time academic expert to provide policy advice to
the National Audit Office on the development of whistleblowing
arrangements (2), devising a checklist of good practice principles and
using these to evaluate the current whistleblowing policies of government
departments.

Policy impacts have also been evident internationally. In 2009, Lewis was
invited to provide oral evidence to the committee reviewing the impact of
the Japanese Whistleblower Protection Act 2005. In a similar context of
public policy review and formulation, he provided oral and written
evidence to the Budgetary Control Committee of the EU Parliament (18/5/11)
on the need for EU measures to protect whistleblowers along the lines of
anti-discrimination Directives already in place, influencing the
production of amended guidance on whistleblowing within the EU's own
institutions (3). In 2012 Lewis was appointed as a member of Transparency
International's committee of experts charged with formulating principles
on which national whistleblowing laws should be based and was an invited
expert at the Council of Europe's consultation with stakeholders on
whistleblowing in 2013 (4).

Research findings on whistleblowing have contributed to a shift in employment
culture and practice with a wide range of organisations adopting
good practice (5). Impacts have been both directly upon the behaviour of
human resources/industrial relations practitioners, and as a result of
this, upon employees and workforces. Processes through which research
findings have been incorporated into practice include commercial
organisations, which have directly made use of Middlesex data in promoting
consultancy packages promoting improved corporate governance and integrity
(e.g. see the websites of Sai Global and Expolink), and commercial
training for senior human resource and legal practitioners run by Lexis
Nexis (2009 & 2012) which have called on Lewis to present his findings
and outline practice implications (6). The reach of this impact was
further extended in 2012 when Lewis was commissioned to produce a detailed
guide to good practice by Xpert HR (2012).

The impacts of research into new forms of employee representation and the
development of sustainable work practices have been evident in influencing
wider public debate and the development of union strategies and employers'
practices. The research undertaken into new ways of working in high
performance and workplace partnership led to the publication of six
reports by employers and unions in case studies, including Prudential
Insurance, Bristol and West Building Society, Rolls Royce and British
Aerospace. This was further progressed through an examination of
industrial relations and sustainable work practices at British Airways
(BA) during the 2010/2011 cabin crew dispute. This work became influential
in the resolution of this dispute and the wider public debate over the
issues it raised. The critique developed by Upchurch and others of BA's
practices was endorsed by the British Universities Industrial Relations
Association which took the (then) unprecedented step of writing to the
national press to express concerns at the future sustainability of BA as a
result of its deteriorating industrial relations. Following this, the
union Unite commissioned Upchurch to examine issues of employee voice and
the work environment. The resulting report (Upchurch, 2010) was widely
publicised by Unite and other unions both in the UK and abroad (e.g. the
International Transport Workers' Federation) and informed their campaigns.

This research impacted on a range of stakeholders central to resolving
the BA cabin dispute and wider public debate arising from it. These
impacts included:

Informing BA share holders: The Upchurch report was formally
presented to the top five investors in BA and used by Unite to influence
other investors and board members (7).

Influencing the political debate: The report was the basis for
a Parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM) raised by Jim Sheridan MP, which
received the support of 115 MPs from the Labour Party, Conservative
Party, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and SDLP in the House
of Commons. The summary and introduction to this EDM, cited the Upchurch
report (8).

Shaping public perceptions of the dispute: The research
received widespread comment in both the national and trade press,
including the Guardian, the Independent (29/5/10), the Daily
Mirror (4/6/10) and Travel Weekly, prompting debate about
the strategy pursued in the dispute by the Chief Executive Willy Walsh
(9). A video produced by Upchurch received over 1200 downloads on
YouTube (10).

Shaping the strategy of Unite and other unions: the Unite union
recognised this report as an important contributing factor in improving
and stabilising industrial relations at BA and the restoration of a
negotiating relationship with the cabin crew's union (7). The
international impact was enhanced through ESRC funded work considering
aspects of global labour regulation, which led to collaborative work
with the major Global Union Federations. This resulted in the
publication by Croucher and Cotton of Global Unions, Global
Business: Global Union Federations and International Business
(Libri, 2011) and further commissioned work on employee voice from the
International Labour Organisation.

Sources to corroborate the impact

(1) Lead adviser to Australian Federal Government (factual statement
provided)